TONE Caps - What are you using?

[ESQUIREoholic]

With an amazing number of options in all price ranges out there - there is a tone pot for everyone. Whether for MOJO, eye candy or tone ... what are you using? Got any pics?

[spankdplank]

The little green chiclets from radio shack. I can't hear any difference between them and any other caps and they are cheap and available.

[mellecaster]

Sprague...just cause I like the Pretty Orange color.....

[mojo2001]

About 15 years ago when I bought my first tele, an AmStd, I put some Rio Grande pups in it and tried many caps. I was a tube audio professional (magazine editor) and maniacal collector of vintage electronics--audio and ham gear. I tried Black Beauties, NOS wax paper, Vitamin Q, teflon, Hovland. you name it.

Eventually I went out to the garage and yanked the funkiest looking ceramic disc cap out of a WWII Collins aircraft transmitter that definitely saw a lot of action then sat in a barn for decades. That cap stayed in the guitar.

Nowdays I usually use Sprague 118P, which is the same as a Black Beauty Difilm cap, but in a metal case, or NOS 160P Black Beauties, just cause I have some.

Yeah, it makes a difference but the expensive options aren't always the best difference you can get.

[telecaster803]

+1 Sprague... that orange cap looks so.... beautiful.

[numeric]

(3) .05uf Gudeman paper in oil caps in my Esquire, Sprauge .047 Orange Drops in my Squier 51s, a .022 Radio Shack film in my Strat.

[BritishBluesBoy]

Spragues here too...

[shades]

The .047 VitaminQ cap is a pretty decent old-school reproduction available from Allparts.

[Lostheart]

I'm a fan of Luxe Caps...they look mighty cool, especially if you wanna do a repro from the 50's or 60's.



Other than that Vitamin Q's:

[degsycaster]

Another dedicated Sprague user here.

[superchicken_VI]

Whatever Fender put in my guitar.

[Cole]

Sprauge .047 Orange Drop in my upgraded MIM... sorry no pic.

[yegbert]

One that's the right capacitance value and a physical size that I can easily fit in my Tele. I bought a bunch of Mallory 150s at one point because they were a tight tolerance and I didn't have a capacitance meter. Now that I have this meter and I've experimented with a few caps I'm not picky about tolerances in guitar tone caps.



I bought some of those pretty orange Sprague caps but they are so big they are difficult to fit. In the below picture the big orange one is the Sprague, the little yellow one is a Mallory 150, and the little green one came stock in a Squier Standard Tele. As a point of reference, the pot is a dime-sized "mini" that also came stock in the Squier Standard Tele.

[nasonm]

I like the look of many paper in oil caps (like Glendale's Paisley Caps) but I have a hard time believing that the price difference between a $1 Orange Drop and a $30 Luxe Cap is worth it.

[Lostheart]

Originally Posted by nasonm

I like the look of many paper in oil caps (like Glendale's Paisley Caps) but I have a hard time believing that the price difference between a $1 Orange Drop and a $30 Luxe Cap is worth it.

I do believe there is a difference in a dime cap and a PIO cap, but getting a Luxe cap is IMHO mainly a visual thing. Others may say that you dont see the innards of your guitar anyways but heck...what else is there to spend money on? ;-)

[jmcw]

Kimber Caps...

[graphs]

I'm using a Luxe cap. On a whim I ordered one of their little tone kits for tele and esquire. I just experimented with different ones until I found a sound I liked. Some of the markings on the caps are difficult to decipher so I don't even know what value is in there!

[graphs]

and for the record, the box of caps from Luxe was like $15 for around 20 assorted pieces. I would never pay $30 for a single cap!

[chromaken]

I tried the Sprague orange drop .47 in my strat, and noticed a smoother transition. It has a good rep and cheap so why not, but I'm sure I wouldnt be able to tell a huge difference in types...

[nasonm]

Originally Posted by graphs

and for the record, the box of caps from Luxe was like $15 for around 20 assorted pieces. I would never pay $30 for a single cap!

I haven't seen Luxe caps for that cheap. Where did you find those? Everywhere I've seen Luxe caps their $30+ (which I agree is insane!)